Meet My Parrot - Pippy The Budgie

Thanks to everyone who has contacted us wanting to be in our next “Meet My Parrot” feature in the catalogue.

All the entries we receive will be considered for our Autumn catalogue. But we will post as many as we can on our website, and here’s our second entry, Pippy the Budgie, who was also in the running for being the Face of Amazon Pets 2016.

Pippy’s proud owner is Joanna Armstrong.

Why did you choose a Budgie?
The idea to have a Budgie as a pet first came from a trip to Rome. Myself and my husband were admiring the Trevi Fountain and a young lady popped two Budgies on my head and demanded a euro to have a picture taken with them. From then I thought they would be a sweet pet, easy to take care of (so I thought) and good company for when my husband is away with the Royal Navy. There the story began!

What is Pippy’s favourite food?
Pippy is a simple man. He loves his seed and seed bell but most of all millet! We do try to feed him a balanced diet including veggies but he is quite fussy. He does like spinach, broccoli (he likes to shred this, I think more ends up on the floor than in his tummy) and pepper. .

Does Pippy have any favourite toys?
Pippy has lots of toys from cat toys, typical Budgie toys, his snuggle tent along with a toilet roll tube and a green plastic lid. His favourite toys include his ferris wheel and Mrs Penguin, a penguin on wheels. Sadly she has had to have emergency surgery through Pippy throwing her off the kitchen counter top a few too many times. . Does Pippy have any games he likes to play?
Pippy's favourite (and first game he learnt) is to throw his jingle jangle ball off the top of his cage. He will constantly shout at you until you pick it up for him to do the same again! This can go on for quite a while! He also likes to bop to music and ride around on my shoulder anywhere around the house (I mean anywhere).

Does he speak?
Yes! He has many phrases which he has started to mix up and make his own. Some favourites include: sweet bird, hey cutie, what are you doing, beautiful bird, Budgie Budgie bird and he also can say his name!

Do you have advice for new Budgie owners?
My one piece of advice would be to spend time chatting, being friends and showing genuine kindness to your Budgie. Don’t expect too much in a short period of time, I fell foul to this. I thought I was going to be like the next Norman Barrett of Zippos Circus and his amazing Budgies. Teach them to step up and get them used to being handled the rest we found just came naturally through bonding, playing and some bribery with millet. Eventually they will grow to trust and love you and you will have a friend for life.

Tell us about the face of Amazon pets contest.
Wow! We were super surprised to be shortlisted for the Face of Amazon Pets 2016 and quite chuffed as the shortlist was based on notching up the most buzz and interaction on social media. We have only been running his Instagram account (Pippythe_budgie_bird) for a few months and it seems to growing in popularity day by day! We are so glad people enjoy seeing his antics as much as we do! Hopefully he will be wearing his little Budgie crown as winner of Face of Amazon Pets 2016 at the end of June. If not we love him all the same and are just excited he was shortlisted out of so many adorable and deserving pets.

If you would like your Parrot to be in our next Meet My Parrot feature, please email us at info@northernparrots.com